The epic Mahabharatha is about the war between Kauravas and Pandavas. In it, Arjuna (one of the Pandavas) had prepared for the war for 13 years. But, just before the war was to begin, he became mentally weak and told his charioteer Krishna that he does not need the country or victory in the war. Arjuna was in a moral dilemma about the violence and death that is going to happen in the war. His confusion and mental agony arose since he had to fight his relatives and friends, especially his great grandfather Bhishma & his respected teacher Drona. Arjuna threw away his weapons and sat in his chariot in front of Krishna. Krishna spoke to Arjuna and advised him to bring him back to the spirits so as to take part in the war. Whatever Krishna advised Arjuna is known as Bhagavad Gita which mainly contains Upanishad principles itself.
"Samabhavam" or "equability" in Bhagavad Gita
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One of the main message in Bhagavad Gita is to keep "sama bhavam" or "equability" towards all the dualities in life. Examples of dualities are "Sukham & Dukham" (Happiness & Sadness), "jayam & parajayam" (success & failure), "raathri & pakal" (Night & Day), "karuppu & velupp" (black & white), fulfillment & nonfulfillment, accomplishment & non accomplishment etc.
The duality Sukham & Dukham (or Happiness & Sadness) is what we feel in our mind. For every human being, 5 sensory organs (ear/hear, nose/smell, eyes/see, skin/touch and tongue/taste) are the interface to the visible world. If we don't have any of these 5 sensory organs then we are nothing more than a rock or wooden log since a "rock" or "wooden log" does not have a "mind" or an "intelligence" or "thoughts". So, the 5 sensory organs and 5 senses is what makes us different from inanimate objects. Whatever we sense from this world through these sensory organs, makes us "Happy" or "Sad". E.g. when someone hears about the death of a close relative/friend, he/she will definitely become sad. Whatever heard through "ears" made him/her "sad". Similarly, let us say you ate a sweet mango and it was so sweet that you said "wow, awesome mango". The taste felt through the tongue made you "Happy". Even though the inputs came through the sensory organs (e.g. ear and tongue), the state of being "Happy" (happiness) and the state of being "Sad" (sadness) are felt in our mind. Bhagavad Gita's message is to keep equability in mind towards "happiness" and "sadness". As in the examples above, don't be too sad on hearing the news of death and don't be too happy while eating the sweet mango.
Similarly, "accomplishment & non accomplishment" is another duality. All of us have to do actions (karmam) in the world. Based on the results in the visible world, in the mind there will be a feeling of "accomplishment" or "non accomplishment". E.g. a student is studying well to get the best grade. If the student gets the expected grade, there will be a feeling of "accomplishment" in the mind and if he/she does not get the expected grade, there will be a feeling of "non accomplishment" in the mind. Have the same equable attitude towards both feelings is what Bhagavad Gita says. It does not mean that you should stop doing action or stop studying for the exam. The student should try his level best and put all efforts to get the best grade. But, the results achieved should not affect the state of mind to become too happy or too sad.
This key message of "samabhavam" had helped Arjuna to get up and fight in the war.
Chemical Balance in the body promoting health
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When our mind is not in Samabhavam or equability mode, it will be reflected as anger, frustration, hatred, excitement etc. The endocrine system in the body produces hormones for each of these emotions. To easily correlate is the term "Adrenaline rush". Adrenaline is a hormone produced in the body, when human beings are under stress or danger. Stress is caused by what is there in our mind. So, if our "mind" is in a "non equability mode" (or "asama bhavam") it will be more turbulent and higher chances of being in stress and hence higher chances of Adrenaline produced in the body.
Every hormone is a chemical. So, every emotion will have a unique hormonal signature or a unique chemical signature in the body. For our good body health, it is important to keep the balance on the chemicals (or hormones) in the body. Being in one particular emotion (whether it is excitement or anger or frustration or happiness) for quite long time or more frequently will disturb the chemical (or hormonal) balance in the body. And it will affect our physical health.
So, if it is possible to keep "samabhavam" or "equability" towards all kinds of feelings in our mind, it will be possible to keep the chemical balance in the body properly and hence a good health.
Chemical Imbalance causing Cancer
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As of now, Cancer is considered to be happening due to gene mutations (change to our DNA sequence) which result in the uncontrollable cell growth/multiplication. Mutations happen mainly due to 3 reasons - "external factors/carcinogens (e.g. cigarette smoke)", "some viruses" and "unexplained DNA copy error".
Once a mutation happens, that corrupted gene will be copied into all future cancer cells originated from the gene corrupted/mutated cell. Studies have found that just one mutation will not cause cancer. Some cancers may take 100-150 mutations over a quite long period of time (many years) to result in cancer. So, if it takes 150 mutations to cause cancer, it means that after the 150th mutation the cancer cell loses its control on cell multiplication leading to uncontrolled cell division/growth. The cancer is detected only after the 150th mutation and all the previous 149 mutations have gone unnoticed. But, all those 149 mutations have contributed to the 150th mutation. So, is it possible to prevent the previous 149 mutations? (I could not find any references along these lines, if you find any, please share)
Meanwhile, the various hormones or chemicals enter and leave the cells. I feel that quality/quantity of these chemicals entering/leaving the cells may have an effect on gene mutations. The hormone estrogen is found to cause some forms of breast cancer and hormone testosterone is found to cause some forms of prostate cancer. It is quite easy to think and digest that the two reasons for Cancer - "carcinogens" and "viruses" - are most likely to disturb the chemical balance, which may be helping to cause the gene mutations. Plus there is a third reason "unexplained DNA copy error", which also may be caused by some chemical imbalance.
As wrote earlier, our emotions cause a disturbance to the "chemical balance" of the body. This happens on a hourly/daily basis in our life. I mean, most of us get into various kinds of anger, frustration, excitement etc. (e.g. watch the current TV channel news.. it is a world of negativity spreading around..). So, the unnoticed 149 mutations (in our example above) may be happening slowly due to our emotions, eventually leading to the final 150th mutation to cause uncontrollable cell growth multiplication.
How Bhagavad Gita may help against Cancer
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If the "chemical imbalance" is aiding the gene mutation (by itself or together with "carcinogens" or "viruses") then reducing the "chemical imbalance" may help to prevent cancer. That's where Bhagavad Gita becomes relevant. So, keeping the proper chemical balance by keeping equability in mind by following Bhagavad Gita may prevent/slow down/stop the mutations and hence Cancer. In other words, it may prevent/slow down/stop some or all of the 149 mutations and hence never reaching the 150th mutation so as to trigger uncontrollable cell multiplication. At first, I thought Bhagavad Gita was a religious text, but getting more deeper into it, I am realizing that it is not at all religious... It is about how to deal with different situations in life. Or to keep the "samabhavam" or "equability" at every moment in life irrespective of whatever life throws at us.
PS: If someone is already in that "equability" mindset there may not be much need to go through Bhagavad Gita. Also, other scriptures from other faiths also may have similar materials to help human beings to keep their mind steady. If you think you can attain that "samabhavam" or "equability state" by following Modi or Sonia or Pinarayi, that is also a viable option.
[12292019]
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